Be Thankful Anyway

Well, mercy me, friend, push open that ol’ screen door up here on this ol’ front porch, and come sit right over here where the breeze can find you real good. I’ve got a chair waitin’ just for you, the tea’s good and cold, and life may be carryin’ on like an ol’ turkey gobbler loose in the tool shed, knockin’ over everything it can reach. Some days arrive smellin’ like fresh-baked biscuits. Others show up plum lookin’ like an ol’ goat that just backed through the tomato vines. Yet somehow, God is sho’-nuff’ present in both of those days.

Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you.” Notice he plum didn’t say for every circumstance. There are things nobody ought to ever be pretendin’ are wonderful. Losin’ somebody you love hurts. Bad news hurts. Disappointment can sit on your chest heavier than an ol’ heavy sack of seed corn.

But thanksgivin’ says, “Lord, this hurts real bad, and You are still right here with me.”

That’s a mighty different thing when you git to thinkin’ of it that way.

Habakkuk sho’-nuff’ understood it. In Habakkuk 3:17-18, everything around him was failin’. The crops were gone, the fields were empty, and the livestock had plum disappeared. Yet he declared that he would still rejoice in the Lord. His gratitude wasn’t rooted in what remained in the barn. It was downright rooted in the God that remained beside him.

That there’s real deep faith.

Psalm 100:4 tells us to enter God’s presence “with thanksgiving.” Gratitude don’t deny sorrow. It simply refuses to let sorrow have the run of the whole house.

I’ve seen some mighty hard seasons make one heart real tender and another about as hard as an ol’ fence post. The difference often ain’t what happened. It’s where the heart kept lookin’.

So, thank God today, not because everything feels real good but because He is mighty good.

Father, when life doesn’t make sense, keep my heart tender. Help me notice Your goodness even through tears. Teach me to thank You for Your presence, Your promises, and Your faithfulness when circumstances give me little else to celebrate. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Now then, head on out there, friend, and don’t you be lettin’ trouble git to struttin’ around your in thoughts like a lil’ ol’ guinea hen that plum thinks it owns the whole barnyard. When the day gets mighty tangled up like fishin’ line in a cedar stump, start countin’ God’s sweet mercies instead of your miseries. Let gratitude put some fresh air back into your soul. And when evenin’ comes, it’s my prayer that you’ll discover that even on a real hard, bumpy road, God has graciously left His fingerprints of goodness all along the way.

With joy,

Gwen